Funerals

If you want colour and exuberance, it's hard to beat a funeral in Ghana, according to The Guardian. (Click here for a gallery of snazzy caskets -- real works of art which put boring teak shoe boxes to shame.) "We estimate that the cost of funerals in Ghana often runs into thousands of dollars," a UK life insurance executive in Ghana says. "There is obviously this cultural thing that seems to have spiralled slightly out of control."